Coming to a Sunday paper near you..................

Manchester United are preparing a mammoth bid to land David Villa, despite the striker's insistence that he does not want to leave Spain.

According to AS, United are ready to offer €47 million for the player, a bid surely too good for Valencia to refuse. Should they accept, that would allow United to try and change Villa's mind.

Indeed, Sir Alex Ferguson has instructed the board not to spare any expense in trying to sign Villa, indicating that even higher bids could be on their way.

Having received €94m from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo, Man United are desperate to land a forward to replace both the Portuguese and Carlos Tevez.

Villa is still rumoured to be on the verge of signing for Barcelona, but they do not have the cash to match this bid. Meanwhile, United are also pursuing Karim Benzema with intent.

Blody hell! I thought you meant rag as in "Rag, mamma rag!"

I thought ManU would be getting the money from Ronaldo in several installments instead of the whole sum at once.

Heard a few reports saying that Real were paying the 80million all at once!

Blody hell!

You've been in France too long Moi. You're even starting to type with an accent!

In installments or all at once, I just dont think ManU are going to spend half of it on a big name player. Reports today say they are very close to Antonio Valencia from Wigan. They will probably sign another striker, too, but outside of that, I dont see a big splash for them this summer

I thought Villa had gone to Real. :S

I thought Villa had gone to Real. :S

Nope, deal collapsed a few days ago.

Villa will go to Barca - eventually

Yeah I think Villa will go to Barca to replace Eto'o after he goes to Citeh